Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
Burial traditions vary across the world very much, even within religions. Having a look on local cemeteries is therefore always interesting. But if you visit the biggest cemetery of București, the Cimitirul Șerban Vodă, you might get a wrong picture: until the 1970s the cemetery was reserved for ‘important’ people and is therefore seen as the national pantheon of Romania.
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Vast, that’s the best word describing the Parcul Tineretului, the youth’s park. 94 hectares of land have been dedicated to being the main recreational space of the capital city. It was opened in 1974 and an impressive boulevard for pedestrians lead you into the green starting in the north at the metro stop Tineretului.
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The Biserica Mănăstirii Stavropoleos is a magical place in the city center of București. It is a Romanian-orthodox cloister in Brâncovenesc style standing between the more modern buildings of the old town. It was built by a Greek monk in 1724 and is beautifully decorated on the inside, but also outside around the tiny door.
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If you get to the botanical garden of București and rate it with a western European scale in mind, you might be disappointed. In large parts it rather looks like a public park than a botanical garden. The vast Grădina Botanică was created in 1884 and was partially destroyed in both World Wars.
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The palace of parliament is one of the biggest buildings in the world by space. It was built between 1983 and 1989 by order of the dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. To create it historical buildings containing 40,000 flats and a dozen churches were destroyed. The building costs were around 40 % of the gross national income of the country.
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If you need to withdraw from the hustle and bustle of the city for a while, the Grădina Cișmigiu might be your place of choice. It was the first garden created in București (in 1860) and includes a long-stretched lake and a lot of alleys to walk through. The trees have been partially imported from Vienna by the German garden engineer who designed this oasis.
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The capital city of Romania is full of ancient buildings that are beautifully illuminated at night. One of these is the Romanian Athenaeum, a concert hall built between 1885 and 1888 by a French architect. It is one of the most important concert halls in Europe an seat of the philharmonic orchestra of București.
Continue reading “Ateneul Român”
The Romanian language is part of the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Even if as a foreigner you might not be able to understand what people are saying it isn’t hard to read signs. Some knowledge of Italian or Latin will help a lot. Until the year 1862 the Cyrillic alphabet was used, then starting in Transsylvania, the Latin alphabet was introduced – enhanced with the five special letters ă, â, î, ș and ț.
Continue reading “Alo!”
The union square is one of the biggest places at București, Romania. It breathes the spirit of socialist times and was in former times a giant marketplace. People from all of Walachia came here to sell their goods. A reminder of these times is the restaurant Hanu’ lui Manuc north of the square where foreigners could eat and rent a room. Still today a lot of shopping malls are surrounding the Piața Unirii.
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I like to end my days in sky bars with good views on the city I’m currently visiting. During the coronavirus pandemic this also became a security factor as the infection risk is much lower in open spaces. At București there is unfortunately no such place on a high building, but at least there is the Nomad Skybar at the heart of the old city center.
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